Obtaining Guardianship of Niece

[AIDA]

My question involves guardianship in the State of: New Jersey (from Texas)

My sister in Texas would like to give guardianship of her 11 year old daughter to her daughter's paternal aunt in New Jersey. The girl's father passed away 10 years ago and the aunt is his sister. My sister is a recovering (still sometimes active) addict, with some health issues. She simply can not care for her daughter properly any longer and want to voluntarily give up rights to the aunt. Can this be done without an attorney? Both my sister and the aunt are on a fixed budget. Thank you very much for any information you can provide.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Assuming the child is not subject to court oversight due to abuse or neglect, the procedure is outlined here. Note that it presents a potential issue that the child is presently domiciled in Texas, and is in the middle of a school year. The easiest approach would likely be for the child to move to New Jersey at the end of the school year, for guardianship to be established over the summer, and for the child to enroll in NJ schools in the fall.

It's possible to seek guardianship in Texas, get court permission to move the child to New Jersey, establish guardianship in New Jersey, and proceed from there... but that's procedurally cumbersome and it's possible that difficulties could arise first in convincing the court to approve out-of-state proposed guardians and second in convincing the court to let the child move to a different state and thereby give up its jurisdiction over the child.